Today, we are going to Windsor Castle. It is one of the homes of the royal family. To get there, we have to take the Tube from Bayswater station to the next station, Paddington. Paddington is one of the stations where you can catch trains to travel all over England. We caught the First Great Western train to Slough, about a twenty-minute ride. In Slough, we changed trains and got on the train to Windsor, which also did not take very long.
My Travelcard got us to Slough, and the London Pass got us to Windsor, so we did not have to buy train tickets. We arrived without any problems and got to the castle just in time to see the changing of the guard. Next, we walked through the Doll House and the State Rooms. It was very impressive. We also walked through the chapel. Once again, people are buried in the chapel. When we were at Westminster Abbey, someone asked one of the ushers if there really were bodies buried there. He said that about 100 years ago, they lifted some of the stones to check, and there were indeed bodies buried there.
After touring the castle, we walked around the village of Windsor. We decided to eat lunch. I wanted to eat outside because it was a beautiful, sunny day. We ate at a little restaurant and had sandwiches. After lunch, we walked back to the train station to head back to London.
We got on the first train back to Slough, but when we got off to change trains, that is where we messed up. There was a train at the station that said it was going to Oxford. I thought maybe they meant Oxford Circus, which is another stop in London. I was wrong. We were heading to the town of Oxford, with a stop in Reading.
Now remember, I did not have any train tickets. I did not realize we were on the wrong train until after the Reading stop. I started praying that the conductor would not come by asking to see our tickets. Thank goodness we made it to Oxford without the conductor checking them. My plan was to buy tickets in Oxford to get us back to London, but we could not exit the platform without tickets.
I decided to ask the policeman watching the turnstiles what we should do. He said there was a train heading to London Paddington in a few minutes and told us to get on it. So we did. Again, we did not have any tickets. The train was stopping in Reading and Slough before reaching London.
After the stop in Reading, the conductor came by and asked to see our tickets. I pulled out my Travelcard and explained to him that we had accidentally gotten on the wrong train. He just shook his head and walked away. We finally made it back to London. Our little adventure took us about an hour out of our way. We then went back to the hotel to rest.
For supper tonight, I talked Jay into eating at a Persian restaurant called Manoush. Jay had the chicken kebab, and I had the chicken and lamb kebab. Both meals were served with saffron rice and a salad. He also brought us some fresh-baked Persian bread. The meal was very good and brought back some fond memories.
